The following is extracted from Jane Lloyd-Crawford’s notes.

No records or stories remain to tell us of Howard’s childhood…

The young Howard attended Brighton School but had to drop out due to circumstances. He was a highly intelligent person and continued his education throughout his life. His own interrupted schooling caused him to place a high value of learning for his own children.

Howard began his working career very early. He is listed in the 1891 City Directory as an elevator operator for the Charles Building. He was then 17…

In 1895 he began his apprenticeship in the grocery of his Uncle William…

We can guess that Howard met pretty Lena May Forrester while delivering groceries from the store his Uncle Bill operated… J. Henry Forrester was a tea salesman so it is also possible he supplied the Lloyd store with merchandise. Possibly they attended the same church.

After Christmas in 1899 Howard and Lena were married. (We do not know the place.) He was 25 years old and she was not quite 20. Their first home was … where their first son, Howard Forrester, was born on 2 January 1901. The widowed (Margaret) Ella Forrester also lived with them there.

The family moved to a larger home… where Esther Margarite was born on 26 January 1903. This was the same year he opened the store…

Grandmother Forrester occupied the front bedroom and did much of the cooking and cleaning for the busy and growing household…

Religion played an important part in the lives of the Lloyd family. Howard and Lena had attended John Collins Methodist Episcopal Church… in their early married years. Lena played the pump organ and sang in the choir…

Howard taught a Ladies’ Bible Class and even drove many of them to church every Sunday morning. He also taught one weeknight class each week and was Superintendent of the Sunday School…

“As the children were growing up, one of the main outings was going to the cemetery with their parents and grandmother to tend the graves. They especially enjoyed it before their father bought his first Model T Ford because they got to ride in the horse-drawn delivery wagon and had peanuts in the shell to keep them occupied.” The trip took all day. They left at 6 a.m. and arrived home after dark. At one point, the children had to get out and wade across Cherry Creek because the wagon could not support the additional weight without getting stuck…

In the early twenties both Howard Forrester and Esther were married and now grandchildren were added to the family circle. It was now a special treat to visit the H.F. Lloyds at their rural home, and Esther and [her] husband, George Nordberg, took them on picnics in the mountains and on an overnight trip to the mining town of Apex.

By 1922 the increasing competition of chain supermarkets made the small family store less profitable. Howard rented out the store building… He went to work as a deliveryman for the Loop Market. Plans were begun for a partnership between owner Miller and Howard for their chain of markets.

One day in late March Howard tripped against a heavy metal cart in the dark basement hallway of his workplace and injured his left arm and leg. He dismissed the wound on his arm as minor and continued his busy schedule.

He did not feel well enough to eat daughter Helen’s fourth birthday cake that week. He fainted during Sunday School but would not go home until his son had driven the ladies from his class safely home.

During the following week the arm continued to swell. The medical advice for soaking proved ineffectual. A specialist was consulted but, by Saturday, the infection had progressed beyond help and an emergency operation conducted on the dining room table was unsuccessful.

He died without regaining consciousness about 5 p.m. on 7 April 1923.114


Howard was only 47 when he died.